1

Issue 2 | December 2013

Message from the PresidentCarlos María Solare

Dear fellow violists,

It has been some time since the previous issue of the IVS E-News, and I apologize for the delay in bringing out this second one. The elections for the new IVS Board have been taking up a lot of our time of late. Following an interim period as acting President, I have now been elected for a full term starting in January 2014, and I thank you deeply for your trust. It is my pleasure to introduce to you today the members of the newly elected IVS Board, who will work with me for the next three years: Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot (Canadian VS) as Vice-President, Louise Lansdown (British VS) as Secretary, and Danny Keasler (Thai VS) as Treasurer. The appointment of the two Executive Secretaries will soon be forthcoming, but we don’t want to hold back the E-News any longer. The names will be announced in due time in the IVS website.

Very special thanks are in order for IVS Past President Michael Vidulich, who after 12 years is approaching his last period of service as the all-time longest-serving IVS board member. It was my pleasure last October to confer on Dr. Vidulich IVS Honorary Membership, as a small token of gratitude for all these years of service to our organization. Hopefully we will still be able to profit from his experience and wisdom for many years to come.

ContentsPresident’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1John White (1938–2013) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Impressions of the 40th IVS Congress . . . . . . . 4Finnish Viola Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Tokyo International Viola Competition . . . . . . 7Central Coast Concerto Competition . . . . . . 13Solo Viola Sonata Follies of 1937 . . . . . . . . . 15In Review: the 41st IVS Congress . . . . . . . . 21Cinderella: Some More! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Letter from 2014 IVS Congress Host. . . . . . . 29The Viola Music of Louise Lincoln Kerr . . . . . 30

The IVS continues to grow. In Issue No. 1 of these E-News, sections in Thailand, Portugal and the Netherlands were announced as being “in the works”, all of which have in the meantime joined the organization. In addition to them, this year we welcomed Italy as the IVS’s 19th and latest national chapter.

In 2013, one of the IVS’s youngest sections—the Polish Viola Society, barely 4 years old—has hosted the 41st International Viola Congress. I am sure that all attendees of this historic event will agree with me that it was an unalloyed success. PVS President Bogusława Hubisz-Sielska deserves the most heartfelt congratulations and thanks for the wonderful week of music she gave us. Many colleagues from the Eastern part of Europe were attending their first International Viola Congress and introduced us to music from Bulgaria, Ukraine and Poland itself. A report on the 41st IVC, written by ANZVS member Andrew Filmer for the Journal of the American Viola Society, is included in this issue of the IVS E-News (pp. 21–29). You may indeed notice a large proportion of contributions from “Down Under” in these pages! This was unforeseen, and due mainly to the willingness of contributors to submit suitable material—the previous issue arguably had a US/Canadian bias. Ideally, we would like to achieve in each issue

Carlos María SolarePhoto credit: Verena Richter Alves

e-NewsletterVol. 2 Issue 1

December 2013

2

events large and small that may make a detour worth your while (www.landesmusikrat-berlin.de).

The IVS in its present form is now over twenty years old. Times have changed a lot since then, and, as the saying goes, one should move on and change with them, if one is not to be left hopelessly behind. The new IVS Board is committed to bringing—and keeping—the IVS in tune with a rapidly changing world. For this we need your help and support: Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us!

With kindest regards,

Carlos María Solare President of the International Viola Society

a balanced proportion of articles originating in as many of our sections as possible. Therefore, I encourage all of you to submit reports on local events, information about your research projects, and any other items you would like to see reach a—literally—world-wide interested readership.

After the Polish congress, Portugal—an even younger IVS section—is organizing the 42nd International Viola Congress, scheduled for November 2014. Please see the host’s message on p. 29.

In Berlin, where I live, the State Music Council (Landesmusikrat) has declared the viola—or rather die Bratsche— “Instrument of the Year” for 2014. Hartmut Rohde, viola professor at Berlin’s University of the Arts, has agreed to be patron of this year-long event. Should you be anywhere near Berlin, watch out for a continuing series of concerts and other

John White (1938–2013)by Michael Freyhan | British VS Newsletter

This article was written as a 75th birthday tribute. Sadly, John White passed away on December 1, 2013. Michael Freyhan’s text is printed here as an homage to the Honorary President of the British Viola Society and doyen of research into the viola repertoire.

Born in the Yorkshire coal-mining village of Royston, near Barnsley, John White received his first violin lessons from his father. He continued his musical studies at Huddersfield Technical College, where he took the decision to switch to viola. While serving out his national service he was awarded a scholarship to study with Watson Forbes. He proceeded to the Royal Academy, where he became a founder member of the Alberni Quartet. This later brought him into contact with Britten and other British composers. After leaving the

British Viola Society Newsletter 2013quartet he encouraged many of them to write for the viola, and they responded with works dedicated to him.

He gained further professional experience playing in the London Philharmonic Orchestra and London Mozart Players but was drawn by instinct to teaching. Accepting a post at Hockerill College in

Bishop’s Stortford, he developed the musical life of the College, bringing in musicians from outside to give concerts and provide inspiration for the students. He was much in demand as a chamber music coach and began to conduct and train young players in organisations such as the Brentwood Youth Orchestra. He went on to become viola tutor for the European Youth Orchestra.

As his reputation spread abroad he was invited to sit on the juries of international competitions. He was the first British violist to give master classes at the Beijing Conservatory. He held long-term appointments, teaching at the Royal Academy for more than thirty years and serving

John White (1938–2013)Photo credit: Melanie Strover

4706 Highland Avenue • Bethesda, Maryland 20814 USA

301.652.7070 • 800.317.9452 • www.pottersviolins.com

Shop anytime — store.pottersviolins.comSign-up with us on Facebook and Twitter for special offers and instrument care tips.

Friends of The Potter Violin Co. @pottersviolins

high quality string instruments for purchase & rentwide selection of accessories, bows, cases, & sheet music

detailed instrument maintenancefinancing available

exceptional customer carePr

omo

code

: IV

4

on the committee of the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition for a similar period. He continued to edit and publish, recently bringing out collections of Tertis arrangements, from the original manuscript or transcribed from recordings, as well as previously unpublished works by Alwyn and Bowen. His Anthology of British Viola Players, published by Comus Edition, dates from 1997, and his monumental biography of Tertis, Lionel Tertis, the First Great Virtuoso of the Viola, first published by Boydell and Brewer in 2006, has just been updated and reprinted in paperback. It draws on material

from his private archive, stored on the first floor of his house, though no-one outside the close family has been allowed to see it! Some of the Tertis treasures came to him from the late Harry Danks, former student of Tertis, whom John White acknowledges as an irreplaceable friend and mentor.

His answer to retirement, and equally to ill-health, was to work, and in his 75th year he was as productive as ever: his last book, on cricket, was published last October. John is survived by his wife Carol— his companion of almost 50 years—as well as by their daughter and son.

Impressions of the 40th International Viola Congress 2012: Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, USAMax Savikangas

The 40th International Viola Congress, brilliantly co-hosted by George Taylor, Carol Rodland and Phillip Ying at the famous Eastman School of Music, was probably the largest IVC ever with ca 600 participants and also probably one of the most diverse by its programming (view online: http://www.esm.rochester.edu/ivc2012/ivc-daily-schedule/). Eastman School of Music was also the venue for the fifth IVC back in 1977, then with performers such as William Primrose, Paul Doktor, Walter Trampler and Francis Tursi. This long traditon was interestingly presented in the programme booklet and at the exhibition located in the library.

ConcertsAtar Arad truly impressed me and the full house by his intensive performance of his own composition Epitaph for viola and string orchestra, as well as with his speedy and compelling performance of the Bach-Kodály Chromatic Phantasy.

John Graham gave a cultivated recital with a programme for viola and live electronics and/or soundtracks. Especially positive impression left his premiere of Mikel Kuehn’s (holding PhD in Composition from Eastman, by the way) energetic and imagintive new composition Colored Shadows [Hyperresonance IV] for viola and Interactive Electro-acoustics (2012).

Kim Kashkashian, viola, Katherine Ciesinski, mezzo-soprano and Russell Miller, piano, performed with almost blood-curdling emotional intensity the

Suomen Alttoviuluseuran Tiedotuslehtihttp://www.suomenalttoviuluseura.com/finnishvs.htm

Atar Arad performing his Epitaph at the Kodak Concert Hall of the Eastman School of Music, cond. Wolfram Christ

John Graham performing on his viola connected to live-electronics at the Kilbourn Hall of the Eastman School of Music.

5

Two Songs Op. 91 by Johannes Brahms. Especially convincing and spine-chilling were the dramatic and alto toned voice of Ciesinski, her stage charisma and pronounciation of the German text, taking into account the fine nuances of the poems by Friedrich Rückert and Lope de Vega. Kashkashian’s rendering of the viola part was stylish and warmly flexible and that of the piano part by Russell Miller delicately phrased and sophisticatedly resonant.

In the same concert Kim Kashkashian gave a proficient half-hour performance of György Kurtág’s masterful twenty-movement (!) set of solo viola compositions entitled Signs, Games and Messages (1998-2005), which challenged the audience by its fragmentary overall form, but also rewarded us with an excellent listening experience. Signs, Games and Messages is actually a generic title that applies to

several similar collections of short movements by Kurtág, each for a different solo instrument.

The co-hosts of IVC 2012 kindly invited me to premiere my own new composition Kepler 22-b for viola and piano (2012)

Kim Kashkashian, Katherine Ciesinski and Russell Miller performing Two Songs Op. 91 by Johannes Brahms at the Kilbourn Hall.

at the Congress with Eastman graduate pianist Peter Klimo. My 14-minute piece, dedicated to NASA, is instrumentally not impossible, but not without certain challenge either for both parts. However, after the first minute of our first rehearsal together with Peter, I was convinced that the premiere would be a success, because Peter was so well prepared and already into the music. The reception from the large audience at the Kilbourn Hall was indeed delightfully warm and interested. George Taylor, one of the Congress co-hosts, commented to me afterwards that only I as a composer could perform the viola part as convincingly, as I know the music inside out. I had to strongly disagree with George and quote Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot to him: ‘If I can do it, you can do it!’.

Composer-violist Kenji Bunch is combining in his solo viola pieces elements from folk music, special tunings, Americana, contemporary music, jazz and improvisation. I enjoyed his sympathetic and groovy club performance at the Congress to the extent that I wanted to buy his CD Unleashed (2011) from him after the concert and ask for an autograph!

LecturesFrom the several lectures presented at IVC 2012 I would like to mention Stephen Kruse, whose lecture entitled Learning Viola Technique Through Original Etudes was based on his PhD dissertation (The Viola Shool of Technique: Etudes and Methods Written Between 1780 and 1860. D.A. Dissertation. Muncie,

Peter Klimo and Max Savikangas bowing after the premiere of latter’s Kepler 22-b at the Kilbourn Hall.

Kenji Bunch (www.kenjibunch.com)

6

Indiana: Ball State University, 1985). Kruse presented the historical educational materials made in Europe directly for violists, instead of simply transposing a fifth down the already existing materials for the violin. Astonishingly many were produced! The main merits of Dr. Kruse’s lecture were the clear and analytical pedacogical output, the rich multimedia presentation of photos and music examples and espe-cially the live music samples of the historical etudes performed by actual viola students.

ExhibitionsIn conjunction with IVC 2012 there was a large exhibition area placed around the halls of the Eastman School of Music with abundant supply of

luthiers, bow makers, viola accessory dealers as well as sheet music and CD publishers and/or vendors. In-between the congress programme I took the time to try out some of the violas presented, mostly made in the USA, and with around US$ 20,000 apiece I could have purchased many interesting violas for myself. I was especially attracted to a large

Steve Kruse’s lecture on historical original European viola etudes, a viola student performing a sample etude projected on the screen at the Howard Hanson Hall.

Luthier Charles Rufino with his larger viola which I was attracted to.

viola made by luthier Charles Rufino based in New York, with which I tried many things from Bach via Arpeggione to contemporary music techniques, and the instrument responded beautifully. When I finished trying out his viola, Mr. Rufino commented: ‘That was a hell of a ride you gave that instrument!’, delighted of which I asked to take his picture with the viola.

To summarise, the 41st International Viola Congress 2012 at the Eastman School of Music was personally an explosion of musical and international social impressions and experiences, which gave me a tremendous boost to continue my efforts as a composer and violist. In my experience, that’s how these International Viola Congresses tend to affect—and for that I would like to deeply thank the co-hosts George Taylor, Carol Rodland and Phillip Ying! As far as I’m concerned it was truly worthwhile and I can warmly recommend participating in these annual events to all friends of the viola.

Max Savikangas (M. Mus., Sibelius Academy, Finland), is a Finnish composer-violist, Past President of the Finnish Viola Society and Executive Secretary of the International Viola Society

5th National Finnish Viola CompetitionMax Savikangas

The 5th National Finnish Tampere Viola Competition received a very high level of playing by all participants and was finished 25th of November 2012. Nineteen participants under the age of 30 entered the competition. After the three rounds the Competition Jury (Risto Fredriksson, Tim Frederiksen, Yuri Gandelsman, Anna Kreetta Gribajcevic and Simon Rowland-Jones) awarded the following prizes:

1. Prize of 3500 euros: Tina Brännkärr 2. Prize of 2500 euros: Hanna Pakkala 3. Prize of 2000 euros: Lauri Savolainen 4. Prize of 1500 euros: Iisa Kostiainen 5. Prize of 1500 euros: Iiro Rajakoski 6. Prize of 1500 euros: Pia Kukkonen

7

In addition, two special prizes were awarded by the jury:

1. The Finnish Radio Broadcasting Company YLE Special Prize of 1500 euros and an invitation to make a recording of the new trio Armotta for viola, quitter and violoncello commissioned from prominent Finnish composer Jukka Tiensuu for the finals: Lauri Savolainen2. The Vilho and Lahja Koponen Foundation’s Special Prize of 1500 euros for a talented young violist: Mari Viluksela

The next and 6th National Finnish Tampere Viola Competition is going to be held in 2017.

Tina Brännkärr, first prize winner of the 5th National Finnish Tampere Viola Competition

Check out the Tampere Viola Competition online at http://bit.ly/Tamperekonserv or http://bit.ly/tamperefb

Read about the Finish Tampere Viola Competition in the Finnish Viola Society Newsletter from December 2012: http://bit.ly/suomen2012

Viola Space 2012The 2nd Tokyo International Viola CompetitionPaul Groh

The Viola Space festival in Tokyo is the world’s largest annual viola event held independently of the auspices of the International Viola Society. It was founded in 1992 on the initiative of renowned violist Nobuko Imai for the purpose of “celebrating the viola, introducing new works and promoting young artists.” The festival receives substantial private and corporate sponsorship as well as strong government and academic support, and distinguished violists from around the world have been invited to Tokyo to perform and to give master classes. In 2009 the Tokyo International Viola Competition was launched, to be held as part of the festival every three years. I had the good fortune to be in Tokyo for the final part of the 2012 competition and to witness the performances of some of the world’s most accomplished young violists.

I had gone to Japan to visit family friends and to give a series of six concerts in four cities (two solo recitals, three with piano and one with string quartet). Because of my concert schedule, I was only able to attend the second part of the final round of the competition as well as the prize winners’ concert on the closing day of the festival. I especially regretted missing the Gala Concert on June 1, which featured several new works as well as what must have been an absolutely gorgeous arrangement of the Schumann Märchenbilder for five violas, cello and double bass. But as it happened, I was giving a concert of my own music in another ward of Tokyo at the very same time.

By then the competitors had already undergone a gruelling series of trials. Of the original 89 applicants, all between the ages of 18 and 30 and representing eighteen different countries, 35 had come to Tokyo to participate in the competition. The first round had taken place earlier that week. Contestants were judged on their performance of a Bach Cello Suite

8

(any of the last three, that is, the really hard ones) and a Brahms sonata (either of the opus 120 clarinet sonatas, or the opus 78 violin sonata in G major, “Regenlied”). Twelve semi-finalists then proceeded to the second round, which consisted of a classical concerto (either Hoffmeister or Stamitz D major); Toru Takemitsu’s A String Around Autumn; a new solo work by Toshio Hosokawa, Threnody—to the victims of the Tohoku Earthquake 3.11, which had been commissioned for this competition; and any work, lasting ten minutes or less, of the contestant’s choice. Nearly a third of the entrants chose the same work, the Concert Piece by Georges Enescu; but I was pleased to see that one of the contestants, Cecilia Bercovich Avner of Spain, composed an original solo work especially for the occasion.

The field was then narrowed to only four contestants, who were faced with the most challenging repertoire yet. The final round was in two parts, the first of which focused on contemporary music and chamber music. The chamber music portion consisted of one of the three Hindemith sonatas for viola and piano, as well as the Brahms Trio in A minor, opus 114, for viola, cello and piano (originally for clarinet, cello and piano). The finalists then had to select one from a list of sixteen extremely daunting modern solo works, ranging from Quincy Porter’s Suite of 1930 to Luciano Berio’s Sequenza VI of 1967 to Garth Knox’s Fuga Libre, which had been commissioned for the first Tokyo International Viola Competition in 2009. The second part of the final round—the only part of the competition that I was able to attend—had the four finalists performing a single work, the Bartók Viola Concerto (Tibor Serly version), complete, with the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra under the direction of Koichiro Harada. As an observer from the International Viola Society, I was welcomed as a guest of the festival and given a complimentary ticket and press kit. I was excited by the prospect of hearing one of the greatest viola concerti ever written (and rewritten) performed four times, by four different soloists, on the same concert, so I arrived at Kioi Hall

early and took a seat in the centre of the front row of the balcony. I felt rather like Caesar surveying the gladiators.

The first finalist was Barbara Buntrock of Germany, who has already established herself as a violist of great distinction. A former principal violist in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, she gave up her chair in 2010 to pursue a career as a soloist and chamber musician, having for example recently recorded the Beethoven string quintets with the Leipzig String Quartet. At just 30, Buntrock was the oldest of the finalists and as such displayed the greatest artistic maturity in her interpretation, as well as the most charismatic stage presence. Her use of tone colour in dramatically sculpting her phrases was bold yet subtle, equally capable of exquisite tenderness in the opening of the second movement and aggressive strength in the finale. Her fine instrument—a 1650 Antonio Mariani viola that had been frequently played by Lionel Tertis—no doubt aided her in projecting her sound above the orchestra, even in the low and middle registers, without ever sounding forced or harsh.

Buntrock was followed by Wenting Kang, who had previously won prizes in concerto competitions in Europe and the United States as well as in her native China, and who is currently studying with Garth Knox and Kim Kashkashian for her Master of Music degree at the New England Conservatory in Boston. Kang’s tone had a rich sensuousness that gave me

Barbara Buntrock of GermanyPhoto credit: Natsumi Shimada

9

chills from the moment her bow first touched the string; the sound poured out of her viola like port wine and liquorice and violets and black velvet. This was most effective in the lyrical passages in the second movement, where she made the most of dramatic pauses at the end of phrases. On the other hand, she occasionally had difficulty in asserting herself against the orchestra, which I first took as a sign of weakness; however, it occurred to me that, had the orchestra succeeded in matching the dark lustre of her tone, the result might have been an unusually sensitive and original interpretation of the concerto, quite distinct from the extroverted passion of the old Primrose recording with which I grew up.

After the interval, the stage was taken by Kimi Makino, a graduate of Soai University in Osaka who since 2009 has been a student in Imai’s Master Soloist course at the Geneva Conservatorium of

Music. Makino had participated in the first Tokyo International Viola Competition in 2009, not long after having made the switch from the violin; and her comparatively recent advancement to the viola was evident in her bright tone and fast, intense vibrato. While Kang had brought a burnished elegance to the Bartók, Makino’s performance blazed with vitality and exuberance. Her clear, crisp tone never failed to dominate the texture of the orchestra, which unfortunately handicapped her by delivering its worst performance of the day, the cellos and basses in particular lumbering ponderously along like dinosaurs on the verge of extinction. The quality of her tone was less advantageous in lyrical passages—I thought her use of non vibrato in the slow movement was questionable—but the momentum generated by her dazzling virtuosity carried the finale to an exciting finish that left me breathless.

Bringing the final round of the competition to a close was Adrien Boisseau of France, who, although the youngest of the finalists at only 21, is already the laureate of numerous musical competitions in Europe. In contrast to Makino, a recent convert from the violin, he has been playing the viola since the age of five. A confident youth with the pop star good looks of a young Rick Springfield, Boisseau played with natural poise and authority. Where Makino soared above the orchestral texture, and Kang was occasionally subsumed by it, Boisseau

Wenting Kang of ChinaPhoto credit: Natsumi Shimada

Kimi Makino of JapanPhoto credit: Natsumi Shimada

10

seemed to make the orchestra an extension of his personality. His performance seemed to flag somewhat towards the end, perhaps as a consequence of the orchestra’s growing exhaustion after having played the same viola concerto four times in succession. Even from the balcony, I could see the first trumpet scowling every time he pulled his instrument away from his face.

After Boisseau left the stage, the jury retired to deliberate. The jurors, presided over by Imai, consisted of Masao Kawasaki of the Juilliard School and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and co-host of the 38th International Viola Congress in Cincinnati; Dublin-born, Paris-based viola virtuoso and composer Garth Knox; Thomas Riebl, Professor at the University Mozarteum Salzburg; and Jean Sulem, Professor of viola at the Paris Conservatoire. Prior to the concert ballots had been distributed to audience members for a special prize to be awarded by popular vote. I abstained from voting, and I did not envy the jury its task. In such an elite contest as this, the judging is not just a simple matter of deducting points for wrong notes, poor intonation, sloppy passagework, loss of bow control, and so on. There was none of that to speak of. All four finalists demonstrated consummate

artistry and technique; each performance, from downbeat to final double bar, was flawless.

In the meantime, the audience was treated to a presentation by Jason Price, director of Tarisio, the world’s leading online auction house for fine string instruments and one of the festival’s sponsors. Based in New York, Tarisio sells over two thousand violins at eight auctions each year. In June of 2011,

for example, they sold the 1721 Lady Blunt Stradivarius in an online auction for an astonishing US$15.9 million. This not only set a new record for the highest price ever paid for a musical instrument; it more than quadrupled the previous one. The entire sum was donated to Nippon Foundation’s Northeastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund to assist victims of the March 2011 disaster.

Tarisio was handling the sale of the 1697 Andrea Guarneri viola that had been owned by William Primrose from 1954 to 1974, one of only six Guarneri violas in existence. In the 1800s it had been in the collection of Charles Wyndham Stanhope, 7th Earl of Harrington, and is hence sometimes referred to in older sources as the Lord Harrington Guarneri; but because of its connection to the

great Scottish virtuoso, who played it in many of his recordings, it is now and will forevermore be known as the Primrose Guarneri. The instrument had been displayed in a glass case in Kioi Hall for the duration of the festival; several attendees, who had studied with Primrose when he lived in Japan in the 1970s, could recall him playing it at their lessons. Now, as the jurors reviewed and discussed their notes, the viola was brought out for a demonstration by Manabu Suzuki, principal violist of the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra.

A sibilant gasp went out from the audience the moment that Suzuki drew his bow across the string. Surely it was not possible for a viola to produce such a big sound. I grew up listening to Primrose’s recordings, often at a high volume—my next door neighbour once called the police while I was listening to the Brahms sonatas on my stereo with the window open on a hot day—yet I was not prepared for the

Adrian Boisseau of FrancePhoto credit: Natsumi Shimada

11

all-encompassing power of that tone. It was as though the resonating chamber of the viola had expanded to engulf the entire hall with its six massive chandeliers. Suzuki played an improvisation in various registers to demonstrate the quality of the sound, but I could not help wishing that he could have given a brief recital on the instrument, or at least performed a complete solo work.

The Primrose Guarneri was to be auctioned on the fifth of July; and about a week afterwards I wrote to Carlos Tome of Tarisio, with whom I had had several pleasant conversations during the festival, to learn the result of the sale. I was especially curious as to whether the auction had set a new record for the highest price ever paid for a viola, which, considering the quality of the instrument and its pedigree, I thought highly probable. However, Carlos replied that “given the nature of the private auction, we can’t disclose prices or any information related to the sale.” Fair enough, and I knew better than to pry into a matter of professional confidentiality; but I hope that the Primrose Guarneri’s new owner, whoever he or she is, will be generous enough to make it available to the world’s great violists, so that a new generation of music lovers may thrill to its magnificent sound.

Meanwhile, less than ninety minutes after the conclusion of the concert, the jury arrived at its decision, and the winners of the 2nd Tokyo International Viola Competition were announced. The first prize of one million yen (A$13,220) was awarded to Wenting Kang, who also received a viola made and donated by Robert Blaszauer of Budapest, as well as an invitation to perform at the Verbier Festival Academy 2013 in Switzerland. Barbara Buntrock took the second prize of 600,000 yen, along with a high-quality bow donated by Ritz Iwata of Amsterdam. In third place was Kimi Makino, receiving a prize of 300,000 yen and a carbon bow donated by Nakazen Music of Nishio City. Fourth place finalist Adrien Boisseau was the popular favourite, winning the Audience prize of 100,000 yen; and he and Andrea Burger of Switzerland split the special prize of 100,000 yen for Best Interpretation of Japanese Composition.

The top three prize winners were scheduled to give a concert the following afternoon (along with additional performances in Osaka and Nagoya later in the week); so, after a very expensive lunch during the course of which I discovered that I don’t really care for the taste of Japanese poisonous blowfish

or fugu, I returned to the balcony of Kioi Hall for the final concert of the festival. All of the works on the programme were taken from the Competition repertoire. Second place winner Buntrock opened with three movements from the fifth Bach Cello Suite in C minor and the Schumann Adagio and Allegro, opus 70; third place winner Makino followed with two solo works, the first and sixth movements of the Ligeti Sonata and this year’s commissioned work, the Hosokawa Threnody; and first place winner Kang was joined by cellist Rei Tsujimoto and pianist François Killian to conclude the concert with the Brahms Trio in A minor. The performances were as marvellous as one would expect; Buntrock’s interpretation of the Bach, informed by a thorough understanding of Baroque period practice which I never received in my own musical training, made me want to take out my viola and tackle the suite anew.

But it was Makino’s sensitive performance of the Hosokawa—a piece which I had been prepared to dislike—that affected me most profoundly. I had long since grown disenchanted with composers who exploit natural and man-made disasters as a pretext for composing the kind of dour, doleful viola pieces that already loom so large in our literature (see “Elegiac Reaction” at www.contemporaryviola.com/articles/paulgroh01.htm). I did not expect anything new or interesting to be said in such an already well-mined genre, and in this I was profoundly mistaken. In the Threnody, Hosokawa notes, “there is a note that is a core of each phrase, and ornaments are described around the core note like brush strokes of the eastern calligraphy.” A few weeks earlier one of my father’s friends, the Rev. Jujiro Horigome, whose church ministers to people in the stricken area, had given me kakemono of Bible verses in Japanese written in that same calligraphy; and having seen with my own eyes not only the regional writing style, but also the unbelievable devastation, that had inspired it, the music had a powerful impact that I had not expected. Garth Knox kindly gave me a copy of the piece, and my consequent struggles in crafting even a single phrase of it in the proper spirit—like drawing the brush strokes of the kanji in time and space—have left me with a deep appreciation not only of Makino’s artistry, but of Hosokawa’s as well.

I left for Australia the following day, my suitcase heavy with omiyage and my heart light with fresh memories. I strongly recommend that any violists considering a visit to Japan should schedule their

The Violin House of Weaver has been making available fine instruments to musicians since 1898. Our ever changing collection includes an impressive mix of new and old. We offer instruments from some of Italy’s most well known makers of today, including Laura Vigato and Stefano Conia, as well as those made by some of the all time greats, such as Vuillaume and Guarneri. There is also an ample selection of Old French and Italian violins. If you are a player and see something you are interested in and it is not avail-able at your local luthiers, please call us and we will make sure that it will be!

Violas made by: Francois Pique, Gaetano Antoniazzi, Leandro Bisiach, & Gustave Bernardel.

The Violin House of Weaver, Est. 1898 - Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A - Tel: 1-800-713-2879

http://www.weaversviolins.com/

Phot

o cr

edit

Cello

Pics

on

Flic

kr.c

om li

csen

ced

unde

r Cre

ative

Com

mon

s.

13

travel plans around the Viola Space Festival. Tokyo is at its best in late May and early June, when the azaleas are in bloom and before the cloying humidity of the rainy season has begun to set in. Japan does not currently have its own chapter of the International Viola Society and as such does not participate in our International Viola Congresses, but the festival founded by Imai twenty years ago is worthy of international attention. As with everywhere I travelled in Japan, I was treated with unfailing courtesy and hospitality. Everybody complimented me lavishly on my rudimentary Japanese and was happy to provide interpretive assistance when it failed me. Above all, the vibrant performances by the young violists in the competition filled me with

tremendous hope for the future of classical music. Juror Masao Kawasaki made the point that not only the prize winners, but all of the participants in the competition, were destined for stellar musical careers, beginning tomorrow.

And so I wish a heartfelt omedetou gozaimashita to everybody involved in Viola Space 2012 and the Tokyo International Viola Competition, and especially to prize winners Kang, Buntrock, Makino and Boisseau, of whom we will doubtless hear a great deal in the future. The talent, hard work and dedication that brought them to Tokyo have earned them prizes and recognition, but their greatest achievements still lie ahead of them.

The 2012 Central Coast Concerto CompetitionPaul Groh

Since its inception in 1998, the Central Coast Concerto Competition (formerly the Trevor Haynes OAM and Frank Streather Concerto Competition) has been held in Gosford, New South Wales, Australia, every two years. It is open to any instrumentalist age 25 or under whose primary residence is in the Central Coast. Following a preliminary audition of all applicants, two finalists are then selected to perform a complete concerto at a concert of the Central Coast Symphony Orchestra, where the final adjudication and presentation of awards take place.

I always enjoy these concerts, not only to hear the performances of talented young soloists at the onset of promising musical careers, but also because of the wide range of repertoire the orchestra gets to play. Concerti in past competitions have run the gamut of historical periods from Baroque to modern, with solo instruments ranging from flute to timpani. Many orchestral musicians go their entire lives without ever playing a tuba concerto; I’ve played two of them.

Until recently, no violist had ever performed in the finals of the Central Coast Concerto Competition.

Viola vs. Viola(Violist Glen Donnelly won the competition in 2004, but as a violinist, performing the Bruch Concerto in G minor.) This year, for the first time, not just one, but both finalists were violists. Julia Doukakis performed the Hoffmeister Concerto in D major, and Elizabeth Woolnough performed the G major transcription of the Mozart Bassoon Concerto in B-flat, at the Central Coast Symphony Orchestra’s concert in Laycock Street Theatre on 16 September.

Julia, 19, and Liz, 18, have a great deal in common. Both girls started out on violin at an early age and switched to viola in their early teens, and both

Julia Doukakis

14

studied a wind instrument for a time as well (clarinet for Liz, and trombone for Julia). Both received their Diploma in Music Performance from the Central Coast Conservatorium, where they studied viola with Suzanne Borrett, and both are currently students of Senior Lecturer and SSO Principal Viola Roger Benedict in their first year at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Both have taken part in the National Music Camp multiple times, and both were accepted into the Australian Youth Orchestra this year. They are both tall girls who play large, Australian-made violas, and prior to this competition they had both previously performed as soloists with the Central Coast Conservatorium Youth Orchestra. Both intend to pursue professional careers in music. If they played any other instrument, they would probably be bitter and jealous rivals; but being violists, it should come as no surprise to anyone that Liz and Julia have always been very good friends.

In one of the orchestra’s bizarre concert programming decisions that I should be used to by now, but nevertheless continue to bewilder me, the two viola concerti were sandwiched between two Eighth Symphonies, Schubert and Beethoven. (I suppose I should count my blessings that they weren’t upstaged by Bruckner and Mahler.) Liz took the

stage first with the Mozart, followed by Julia with the Hoffmeister. From my vantage point on the first desk of violas I could hear both soloists quite well, yet I made a conscious effort not to concentrate too closely on either; I had a viola part of my own to play and a section to lead, and I was determined that neither performance should suffer because the principal viola was distracted. Hence I was only able to give them my full attention during the cadenzas. All I can say is that both girls played beautifully, and had the decision been left to me, the contest would have ended in a tie.

The adjudicator for the competition was Dr. Barry Bignell, formerly Music Director of the Australian Army Band and founder of the Australian Wind Sinfonia, and recently retired from the position of Head of postgraduate studies in music at the Victorian College of the Arts. Being fully aware of the invidious attitude that many conductors take towards our instrument, I had the uneasy feeling that he might preface his remarks by telling a viola joke, which would have been an unspeakable outrage, as some old-fashioned Southern minstrelsy would have been when Martin Luther King won the Nobel Peace Prize; and no doubt I would have had a thing or two to say to him afterwards if he had dared to commit such a gaffe. But fortunately, he made no jokes at our expense. As a matter of fact, his remarks were utterly humourless in every respect. Nor did he acknowledge that there was anything the least bit unusual about having to choose between two violists in the finals of an open concerto competition, as though this were the most commonplace thing in the world that could ever happen.

Instead, he talked about Aristotle. Dr. Bignell’s taste in light reading material runs along the lines of the great Greek thinker’s Metaphysics, which he had brought along on the plane to read during the flight from Melbourne. I expect it must have been an excellent way to prevent the passenger in the next seat from striking up an unwelcome conversation with him. Dr. Bignell spent ten long minutes quoting Aristotle in front of two anxious girls who only wanted the suspense to end so they could go home, relax and celebrate. My heart bled.

Next I made a presentation on behalf of the Australian and New Zealand Viola Society, and, never having read Aristotle, I kept it brief. I told the audience that it was highly unusual for two violists

Elizabeth Woolnough

15

to take first and second place in an open concerto competition, and that, after checking with the various chapters of the International Viola Society to see if anyone could remember such an occurrence, I found that it was indeed without precedence anywhere in the world. I then presented each finalist with a letter of congratulation from ANZVS President Anna Brooker, along with a three-year membership in the Society, an invitation to perform at a future Viola Society event, and a sterling silver alto clef pendant with silver chain. The only problem was that the audience kept interrupting me with thunderous applause, which threw off my timing.

I returned to my chair to tackle the Beethoven, which I found myself enjoying in spite of its ridiculous

minuet and wrist-fracturing finale. After the concert the concertmaster, a Ukrainian who speaks excellent English but occasionally garbles an idiom, told me: “You must be on the seventh cloud.” Well, either there, or on Cloud Nine or in Seventh Heaven; but however you mix your metaphors, it was a great day for the viola.

I suppose I really ought to mention, just as an afterthought, the result of the competition. Liz won the first prize of $1500, and Julia received the second prize of $500. I was completely indifferent as to the outcome. In this contest, conducted in such a fine spirit of friendship and good will, the viola itself was the real winner.

Have you heard the one about the violist and the travelling salesman?Paul Groh

Sunday, the eighteenth of April, 1937

The bell clanged, the whistle blew, and with a nascent lurch the train began to pull out of Grand Central Station. The brilliant morning sunshine streamed through the window glass and illuminated the equally brilliant bald head of Paul Hindemith, the great German violist and composer, who was comfortably ensconced in a window seat. On his lap he balanced a portable desk upon which his pencils, gum erasers, and several sheets of blank musical manuscript paper were fastidiously arrayed. The window had been opened just enough to let in the fresh springtime air, yet not so much as to admit cinders and turbulence. He was grateful that, although the carriage was crowded, the seat beside him was empty.

His concert tour of the United States had been a tremendous success so far, his performances in New York, Buffalo, Boston and Washington having secured his reputation in this growing republic as one of the preeminent figures in modern music. Now he was on his way to Chicago to give a concert of his works for the Arts Club of that city. The Mischakoff Quartet would open the concert with his String Quartet, Opus 22, which Hindemith had performed

The Solo Viola Sonata Follies of 1937with his own quartet more than a hundred times all over Europe; and the concert would close with his new viola concerto on German folk songs Der Schwanendreher, which he had premiered in Amsterdam less than two years earlier. In between he would present a new sonata for solo viola—a sonata so new, in fact, that he had not yet begun to write it.

He had not composed a solo viola sonata in over ten years. The last one, Opus 31/4, he had abandoned

Paul Hindemith during his USA days

16

after a single performance as being too difficult even for a violist of Hindemith’s legendary virtuosity, and therefore practically impossible for anyone else. His solo sonata of 1922, Opus 25/1, had created a sensation with audiences since its premiere at the Donaueschingen festival, but he had performed it hundreds of times and was growing rather weary of it; although it came in handy in situations such as his recent recital at Harvard, when Walter Piston had carelessly booked him in a hall without a piano. As for his first solo sonata, Opus 11/5, that was an early work, a piece of juvenilia really, hardly worth the trouble of working the final passacaglia into shape. He needed a new sonata, he had promised one to the Arts Club of Chicago, and he had a mere two days to devote to the task of composing it.

That would not be a problem, for Hindemith was able to compose music with a speed and facility that astonished his fellow musicians. He could write a large-scale work with complex counterpoint as easily as another person might write a letter. And unlike other composers who might require total solitude, absolute silence, and a piano, Hindemith could work just as easily within the confines of a noisy railroad car. He had composed the finale of his woodwind quintet, the Kleine Kammermusik, aboard a train, and it had proven to be one of his most popular pieces of chamber music. And his solo violin sonata, Opus 31/2, had been written on a train journey between Hanover and Frankfurt on another sunny April day thirteen years ago.

He was confident that his new solo viola sonata would be finished in plenty of time for the concert Wednesday evening. All he needed was an idea. He furrowed his expansive brow and brought his full attention to the task.

At that moment a cascade of checkered flannel collapsed into the seat next to him, and Hindemith perceived that he was no longer alone.

“Boy oh boy, I tell you what, I never thought I was going to catch this train on time,” said the newcomer in a reedy, penetrating tone redolent of the Midwestern prairies. “Just try to find a taxi downtown on a Sunday morning. I had to run all the way to Broadway before I could flag one down. Of course, when we get to Grand Central, the track the train’s leaving from is clear over on the other side of the terminal. I tell you, one more minute and it’d have

left without me. Sure is crowded, too. You know I had to go through two whole cars before I found this here empty seat?”

Hindemith turned a critical eye toward the newcomer. A pair of slightly crossed eyes stared obliquely back at him over a wide, twisted grin filled with stained, irregular teeth. The checkered suit was accompanied by a lemon-yellow dress shirt, a flowered bow tie, and a plaid waistcoat from which several feet of watch chain conspicuously dangled. Resting upon his knees was a salesman’s sample case surmounted by an oversize fedora hat, and a pair of gleaming brown and white saddle shoes completed the ensemble. Hindemith considered the man’s sartorial aspect in abominable taste.

“How terribly unfortunate,” he muttered absently, as though the misfortune were his own.

“Well, now, I wouldn’t say that. Fact is, I reckon I’m darned lucky I didn’t miss this train.” He examined his ticket, smoothed it, and placed it in the breast pocket of his jacket. “Good thing I already had my return ticket on me. Why, if I didn’t show up at the sales conference in Chicago on Tuesday, the big boys in the main office would have my head on a platter, you can count on that.”

So he would be travelling all the way to Chicago. Hindemith’s heart sank.

“Yes sir, you can take that all the way to the bank. Well, that’s just fine. Nothing to do now but sit back and enjoy the ride. Couldn’t have picked a nicer day for it, either. Ain’t it a beaut? Haven’t seen weather like this since the last time I was in Sioux City. Great business town, Sioux City. Plenty of turnover.”

Hindemith did not respond. He stared at the blank manuscript paper and concentrated on devising a dramatic opening gesture for his sonata. For several moments peace reigned in the railroad car. Then:

“Say, pal, what are you up to?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You know.” He indicated Hindemith’s desk with a nod. “That paper there with all the stripes on it. What is that, some kind of ledger?”

“No. It is manuscript paper,” Hindemith said without raising his eyes. “I am composing a viola sonata.”

“Doing what, now?”

17

Hindemith sighed. “I am composing a sonata,” he said dryly, “for solo viola.”

The salesman blinked twice. The twist in his grin slackened somewhat.

“Sorry, pal, I don’t follow you. What’s that you say you’re doing, now?”

“I am composing—that is to say, I….” Hindemith frowned. He had no desire to deliver a lecture on musical form. “It is music,” he said finally. “I am writing music.”

Comprehension revived the salesman’s grin. “Oh, I get it,” he said. “So you’re a songwriter, huh? Hot dog!”

Hindemith bristled with indignation; then he remembered Das Marienleben, Des Todes Tod and Die junge Magd, his settings of texts by Hölderlin, Rückert, Novalis, Angelus Silesius, Matthias Claudius, Wilhelm Busch and Walt Whitman, and wryly conceded that he was, indeed, a writer of songs.

“Well, it don’t look like you’ve done much writing so far,” the salesman said, leaning over to point at the manuscript paper. Hindemith recoiled from the miasma of halitosis and cheap hair oil that rose to his nostrils. “What do you call this thingamajig here?”

“An alto clef.”

“A what, now?”

“An alto clef,” Hindemith repeated with some acerbity.

“No fooling! So what’s that supposed to sound like?”

Hindemith emitted a snort of exasperation. He had had fewer distractions while trying to compose on the Western Front.

“It doesn’t sound like—the clef merely signifies….” Hindemith tried to explain, then gave up. “It is simply a musical symbol,” he said. “I have not yet begun to compose the sonata itself. I intend to do so during the course of this journey. But I shall require peace and quiet, and time to think.” And that, Hindemith hoped, would be the end of it.

“Well, you’ll get plenty enough of that, don’t you worry,” the salesman said cheerfully. “Nothing like a nice long train ride to get the old noodle working, I always say. Just sit back and relax, and that song of yours will pop right into your head like all get-out.

You bet! You’re just drawing a blank, that’s all. That’s what’s the matter with you. But say, listen. Let me tell you something. You wouldn’t believe it, me being in my line of work and all, but there’s times when even I draw a blank. No kidding! Why, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been right in the middle of a pitch, and next thing you know, can’t think of a doggone thing to say. I keep opening my mouth, but nothing comes out. Tongue-tied. That’s what I’m getting at. Know what I mean?”

Hindemith did know, but he had grave doubts and longed for a demonstration.

“But before you know it, bang! I’m back to jawing my fool head off like nobody’s business. It happens to everyone, pal, and we all snap out of it sooner or later. You will, too, I reckon. Like you say, all you need is some peace and quiet. That’ll do the trick, by golly. Yes sir, peace and quiet is just what the doctor ordered, let me tell you.

“Besides,” he went on, completely oblivious to Hindemith’s burgeoning annoyance, “it strikes me this whole songwriting jazz ain’t as all-fired tricky as it’s cracked up to be. Fact is, I got tunes popping into my noggin all the time when I’m on the road. I reckon I could be a regular Irving Berlin and make a million bucks if I just knew how to write them down, like you can. Hey, you know what? I come up with a real catchy tune just a couple of days ago. Been whistling it to myself the whole time I was in New York. Couldn’t get it out of my head. Would you like to hear it?”

“No!”

Without the slightest hesitation, the salesman put his teeth together and began to whistle between them.

Hindemith clutched his ears in agony against the sonic assault. It was a shrill, strident, obstreperous piping, as though all of the world’s teakettles were coming to a boil at once. It seemed impossible to him that any acoustic phenomenon could be so thoroughly irritating. The sound was like a river of molten lava coursing through his brain, obliterating all thoughts in its path and leaving a swath of empty destruction in its wake.

Yet Hindemith’s keen musical ear was nevertheless able to discern patterns in the sibilant cacophony. A melody descending and ascending in dotted rhythms along a pentatonic scale or tetrad: do la fa re do re

18

fa la do…. No, it would begin on the dominant, to delineate the tonic triad: sol mi do la sol la do mi sol mi la mi sol mi…. There was something familiar about the thematic structure….

The salesman paused and licked his lips, pleased with his performance. “Pretty nifty, huh? Now don’t you reckon I could make a million bucks with a tune like that?”

Recognition suddenly blossomed in Hindemith’s brain.

“That is not an original composition,” he snarled. “That is ‘Mairzy Doats’.”

“What, now?”

“Mairzy Doats! Mairzy Doats!” Hindemith shouted, and immediately reddened in embarrassment at the sound of the words. Blood was throbbing noticeably in his temples now. “The title of the song that you are attempting to whistle,” Hindemith explained slowly through clenched teeth, “is ‘Mairzy Doats’. It has been blaring incessantly from every radio in America ever since I arrived in New York.”

The salesman slammed his hand down hard onto Hindemith’s knee.

“Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle! How about that! Now don’t that beat all!” he crowed as Hindemith rubbed his sore patella. “Why, you hit the nail right on the head there, pal. Son of a gun! Here I was thinking I come up with that tune all on my lonesome, when I must have just picked it up from hearing it on the radio. Say, I bet that must happen to you all the time!”

Hindemith glowered speechlessly. His bald head blazed with a furious incandescence.

“Funny how a tune can get stuck in your head like that. Well, I was right about one thing, though. The guy who wrote that song must have made a million bucks off of it. Sure is a cute little ditty, ain’t it? ‘Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey….’”

“Shut up!”

“‘…a kiddley divey too, wouldn’t you?’ Say, pal, you reckon you’ll ever come up with a song as good as that one?”

Enraged beyond endurance, Hindemith reached into the salesman’s breast pocket, pulled out his train ticket, and threw it out the window.

“Hey, now!”

“Conductor!” Hindemith roared at the top of his lungs, and in a moment the burly uniformed railroad official materialized in the aisle.

“What’s going on here, mister?” the conductor said sternly.

“This man is travelling without a ticket,” Hindemith barked with indescribable vehemence. “Remove him!”

“What? Hey! Now wait just a doggone second here!”

“Let me see your ticket, mister,” the conductor said to the salesman.

“I ain’t got it, I tell you! This guy here—why, I couldn’t believe it—right out of my pocket—of all the—”

“It’s true, mister,” another passenger called out from across the car. “I seen him do it. He threw his ticket out the window.”

Hindemith silenced the passenger with a grimace of homicidal savagery.

The conductor’s eyes narrowed. “Why’d you throw your ticket out the window, mister?” he asked the salesman severely.

“What? Hey!” The salesman’s eyes bulged with confusion. He began to sputter incoherently like a grease fire.

“If you do not remove this man from the train immediately,” Hindemith said in a tone that had cowed conductors from the Frankfurt Opera to the New York Central, “I shall lodge a formal complaint with the management of this railroad.”

The conductor swallowed hard. Never had any threat sounded so menacing. Then he seized the salesman’s shoulder with a beefy hand and said: “All right, buddy, let’s go. You know the rules. No ticket, no ride. Out you go at Yonkers.” And he dragged the salesman off into the distance, the latter still sputtering bewildered protest at this unexpected turn of events.

Now the car was silent except for the rhythm of the rails and Hindemith’s stentorian breathing. The other passengers cowered behind newspapers and magazines.

19

Presently Hindemith’s breathing slowed, his pulse returned to its normal rate, his complexion faded to its usual German pallor, and he began to relax. The encounter had been unpleasant in the extreme, true, but at least it was over now. The long journey was still ahead of him, and the seat beside him was once again untenanted. Now he could turn his attention back to the matter of composing his new solo viola sonata.

Hindemith stared at the blank page of manuscript paper in front of him. He tapped his pencil against it and began to think.

Mairzy doats and dozy doats….

Hindemith winced. He tried again.

…and liddle lamzy divey….

Hindemith shook his head violently. This simply would not do. He concentrated the full force of his creative faculties with grim determination.

A kiddley divey too, wouldn’t you?

An expression of abject horror spread over Hindemith’s features. The infernal tune had taken root in his brain!

In desperation he tried to drive the melody out of his mind. He tried to think of some other music, any other music: one of his own compositions, a passage from a Beethoven symphony, a bombastic tutti out of Wagner, a Mozart aria, a Chopin nocturne, a Strauss waltz, a Joplin rag, a Bach partita, a Gesualdo madrigal, a Palestrina motet, a C major scale, anything, anything at all….

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey….

Hindemith slumped miserably in his seat. The Arts Club was expecting a new solo viola sonata from him. The concert programs had already been printed; there was no getting out of it. How could he compose anything at all as long as that foolish, insipid song lingered in his consciousness? There was no way that he could compose any original music under the circumstances.

Unless—

A kiddley divey too….

No. He would never consider anything so ridiculous.

…Wouldn’t you?

On the other hand, why not? He had worked wonders with less promising material in the past.

After all, it wasn’t any worse than the silly foxtrot that he had used to such splendid effect in the finale of his Kammermusik Nr. 1. Perhaps if he tinkered with the intervallic structure a bit… divide the theme into motives, then develop them…. Yes. The thing definitely had possibilities.

Hindemith’s pencil danced across the manuscript paper.

“And so,” said Professor Freensteen to his music history class, “we find that the year 1937 signalled an abrupt and permanent change in Hindemith’s musical style. Gone are the flights of fancy found in his earlier works, the astounding creative invention of the Donaueschingen period. While his compositional technique attained an ever higher level of development, his thematic material became much more limited in scope. It is almost as though his entire musical output, for the rest of his life, consisted of variations on a single theme. Obviously Hindemith had been subjected to some powerful musical influence during his first American tour. However, the precise natural of this influence will, unfortunately, forever remain a matter of conjecture.”

As the students filed out of the lecture hall, one of them asked his friend: “So what do you suppose happened to Hindemith in 1937 that affected his musical style?”

“Oh, who cares?” said the other. “Let the violists figure it out.”

Professor Fenwick Freensteen, the world famous celebrity musicologist, comments: The novelty song “Mairzy Doats” was composed by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston in 1943, six years after Hindemith had composed his solo viola sonata of 1937. Moreover, on the train journey in question, Hindemith travelled in a private first class compartment aboard the New York Central Railroad’s 20th Century Limited (which, incidentally, did not stop at Yonkers). Therefore the scenario postulated above by Mr. Groh could not possibly have taken place.

Paul Groh responds: Remind me to explain the concept of “fiction” to you some time, Prof.

20

21

In Review: the 41st International Viola Congress 11–15 September 2013 Academy of Music, Krakow, Poland Andrew Filmer

Prefacing the presentation of the Gold Alto Clef to David Dalton—only the second in the history of the International Viola Society—Dwight Pounds asked us to look around the room and see the connections to our fellow violists, in renewing old friendships, and building new ones. In a sense, that encapsulated a theme of the 41st International Viola Congress: connections, not only in collegiality, but also in building on past developments in the viola world, and in linking pedagogy, composition, research, and performance. This review aims at looking at each of these aspects in turn.

I. PerformancesThe opening ceremony featured members of the IVS Presidency Louise Lansdown, Max Savikangas and Carlos María Solare, along with Polish players Stefan Kamasa, one of the honorees of this year’s Congress, and congress host Bogusława Hubisz-Sielska, performing Anton Wranitzky’s five-part Cassatio, that had also been featured at the 39th Congress in Würzburg, Germany in 2011.

Concerts featured not only a nod to Polish compositions, but also included a link to the Benjamin Britten centennial anniversary. Two major events were held in the gilded Florianka Concert Hall, including Britten’s Lachrymae performed by Andra Darzins with the Sinfonietta Carcovia. Lech Bałaban and Nokuthula Ngwenyama also performed with the orchestra under the baton of Robert Kabara, playing concertos by Marek Stachowski and Krzysztof Penderecki, respectively. The performances of all three soloists were warmly received. Darzins also performed in recital format only the day before, sharing the stage with Kim Kashkashian.

Kashkashian was undoubtedly the highlight of the Congress, performing an abridged form of György Kurtág’s Signs, Games and Messages, a

Journal of the American Viola Society

Main entrance of the Music Academy, KrakowPhoto credit: Dwight Pounds

Nokuthula Ngwenyama playing the Penderecki Concerto with Sinfonietta Cracovia under Robert KabaraPhoto credit: Dwight Pounds

Kim Kashkashian performing Kurtág’s Signs, Games and MessagesPhoto credit: Dwight Pounds

22

composition that was a component of the recording that earned her a Grammy award earlier this year. In presenting her with the IVS Silver Alto Clef for 2013, IVS President Carlos María Solare noted that Kashkashian was first and foremost a musician, who happened to have the viola as her ‘vessel of expression’. This was a most apt description for a recital that showcased Kashkashian not simply as a violist, but as a performer, capturing nuances both in sound as well as in gestures. This was particularly evident in Kurtág’s varied silences: some with resistance, others with freedom, ones that looked ahead, and others that looked behind—all these included some degree of visual communication in live performance. Above all, this consummate artist had what can only be called a commanding presence on stage, with every moment a meaningful part of the performance—every rest, every preparation, and of course, each sound spanning an incredible spectrum of timbres.

Some performance connections were on a collegial level, for example, Emile Cantor in a performance role after being the host of the 39th Congress. Cantor was in a session shared with Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot that was roundly applauded. Solare

performed another Britten work, the ‘Sarabande’ of his Simple Symphony. This was in an arrangement made by Franz Zeyringer—the first recipient of the Gold Alto Clef—making connections not only to the composer, but to a former IVS president, indeed the organization’s founder.

Two notable performances were of string duos. Seven Paganini caprices were arranged and performed by Elias Goldstein, with Sally Chisholm on second viola, displaying remarkable virtuosity by Goldstein and one of the most beautiful, richest tone colors from Chisholm’s instrument. While they were both clearly first-rate chamber musicians, the stark contrast in timbres seemed at times a complication—an admittedly subjective evaluation, with a possible bias of being familiar with hearing these works on a single instrument. The second was that of Krzysztof Tymendorf with violinist Arnaud Kaminski, whose performance styles were seamless, with physical movements were uncannily symmetrical. If at times the balance was slightly towards the impressively resonant viola, the Congress provided was the most accommodating audience one could ask for.

Several performances also linked the Congress to the world beyond classical music, with a session on improvisation by Paweł Odorowicz that included connections to visual art, and the Quartet Klezmer Trio led by Magdalena Brudzińska that brought the Polish folk soul into the concert hall.

Anna Śliwa’s recital displayed four works from the 16th to the 18th centuries, each on a different instrument: the fidel, lira da braccio, viola d’amore, and baroque viola. The performance included pizzicato with the fidel held vertically and away from the body, and the interesting function of two bass strings on the lira di braccio

Kim Kashkashian recieving the Silver Alto Clef from Carlos María SolarePhoto credit: Dwight Pounds

Anna Śliwa’s instruments (top to bottom: lira da braccio, viola d’amore, fidel)Photo credit: Dwight Pounds

23

that were not connected to the bridge. Accompanied skilfully by Andrzej Zawiska on harpsichord, the performance attracted considerable intellectual interest, even if it were purely a performance event instead of a research-related one.

II. ResearchResearch at the 41st Congress allowed for some truly international connections. Claudine Bigelow and Donald Maurice launched Voices from the Past: Béla Bartók’s 44 Duos, with a presentation that unpacked the CD recording into three: live performances of selections, lyrics on the overhead screen, and listening to the composer’s field recordings. A truly international endeavor, the lecture segment illustrated the various connections: Primrose and Bartók, the Hungarian and Slovakian sources, and the role of Congresses in the meeting of the American and

New Zealand violists, leading to their eventual collaboration. The presentation included rare pictures of peasants taken by Bartók himself.

Orquídea Guandique presented a lecture on the viola concerto of Costa Rican composer Benjamín Gutiérrez, and performed segments of the work. She indicated how the composition of a work could have various indispensable external connections, specifically the development of the orchestra scene in Costa Rica, which in turn was linked to governmental economic policies.

Together with these international presentations was research from the host country, with the opening lecture by Dorota Stanisławska providing a useful survey of Polish works for viola. She noted that Poland had to wait till the Romantic era to have its first dedicated work for viola, with Wieniawski’s Rêverie in 1858-59. The War era had its impact on cultural life as a whole, and from 1956 onwards, modern styles were incorporated into compositions, with Stanisławska noting the “exposition of characteristic viola timbres” at this point in history. A particularly interesting component of the lecture was noting how many major works were written for or premiered by Stefan Kamasa.

Błażej Maliszewski displayed a wide array of skills, from performing seven of his arrangements of works by Grażyna Bacewicz entirely from memory—no

Claudine Bigelow and Donald MauricePhoto credit: Dwight Pounds

Orquídea GuandiquePhoto credit: Dwight Pounds

Błażej MaliszewskiPhoto credit: Dwight Pounds

24

Krakow. A video of Dalton interviewing Primrose lit a discussion on whether his comment that violinists should not impede on the territory of violists remained valid today. Pounds noted certain observations from his own lessons with the legendary performer, and ended the session with a demonstration of Primrose’s ‘silent finger exercises’.

There were several notable masterclasses, all by violists who presented recitals elsewhere in the Congress. Pierre Henri Xuereb combined these in a single session, with student Oskar Foremuy reflecting that his approach had a focus on the importance of finding the optimal place for the position of the left thumb. Jerzy Kosmala’s masterclass provided a particularly in-depth approach, often dealing with the tone quality of a single note, and emphasizing that over-flexibility in the wrist at the expense of the natural movement of the arm can have a negative impact. Andra Darzins allocated time towards addressing how one’s overall performance style could better connect the performer to the audience. She had particularly interesting technical advice in playing on the right foot (with the left almost suspended from the floor) in order to create better balance between the left and right arms. Both Kosmala and Darzins used the simple act of walking to demonstrate aspects of technique, with the latter demonstrating that the ‘figure of 8’ transition of up and down bows was as much lateral as it was vertical.

IV. CompositionJust as Kashkashian had noted her connection to a composer in her recital, so did the Congress have a significant link to composers and new works. There was a transcription of Chopin’s Cello Sonata, op. 65 performed by Leszek Brodowski with Krzysztof Stanienda, thus including one of Poland’s greatest musical treasures. Max Savikangas included one of his compositions, which had extended techniques that explored the furthest reaches of the instrument’s capabilities, including extreme bow pressure, circular bowing, and even a surprising moment of falsetto singing from the performer. There were several premières, including viola duos by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and Jerzy Kornowicz. The première of Boris Pigovat’s viola sonata, concurrent with the launch of the recording, provided another connection to the 39th Congress, with the work written for and performed by Donald Maurice as a form of thanks

small feat—to a lecture on his years-long work in translating S. P. Poniatowski’s book Viola. Art and Heritage from Russian to Polish. One senior delegate noted that this might open a pathway for sources that up to now have been exclusively available in Russia.

Two American violists bridged research with pedagogy in their lectures. Matthew McBride brought us into the 21st century with an exploration of technological developments, including ‘timeline’ databases for historical information, the use of Cloud technology for scores, recording options, using an iPad as a music stand with Bluetooth foot pedals, and a ‘virtual accompanist’ with the potential to follow a student, with the advantage of providing the full harmonic context from early lessons. Danny Keasler brought greetings from Thailand, where he works at Mahidol University, eventually forming the newly-minted Thai Viola Society. He illustrated the benefits of Alfred Uhl’s etudes in having as much melodic value for students as purely technical facility, and Dwight Pounds chimed in with a verbal footnote, mentioning Uhl as “one of us” in his pivotal historical role in the Viola-Forschungsgesellschaft (Viola Research Society), the organization that preceded the IVS.

III. PedagogyDr. Pounds found himself in the unexpected position of facilitating the session scheduled for David Dalton, due to an unfortunate accident that left the preeminent scholar unable to travel to

Danny Keasler in front of Alfred Uhl’s portraitPhoto credit: Dwight Pounds

25

from the composer for taking on Requiem—the Holocaust two years prior. The work had what seems to be Pigovat’s signature sense of expanse, with both Maurice and pianist Wioletta Fluda demonstrating the widest range of textures, from moments of tranquillity to arresting rhythmic unisons. Emile Cantor’s transcriptions of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet were particularly appealing, and were the result of study of the composer’s own arrangement for piano alongside the original orchestral score and the arrangement for viola by Vadim Borisovsky.

There was perhaps no clearer indication of the value of violists collaborating in some way or form with composers than Kashkashian’s efforts with Kurtág.

She began with narrating the connection of performer and composer: her initial meeting with Kurtág was expected to be brief, and four hours later they had only covered the first two lines. This attention to detail was clear in her performance of the work, with an unparalleled range of timbral colours. This brings us full circle to performance—an excellent fit for the yearly event that celebrates not only the viola and violists, but the many connections that draw them all together.

Concluding CommentsSimilar to reflections on the Cincinnati Congress, there were certain scheduling issues, with

performance segments running up to 45 minutes over-time, but as a whole the event was all the more laudable considering that the Polish Viola Society was established only four years ago. Much credit is due to the host, Bogusława Hubisz-Sielska, with a special mention to PVS Secretary Błażej Michna who connected to just about every aspect of its organization: from an impromptu translation of Polish to English in a lecture segment, to performing jazz at the banquet, and whose amiable nature no doubt added a new personal connection for many who attended the 41st International Viola Congress

in Krakow.

Andrew Filmer presented research on Bach’s Cello Suite No. 5 at the 41st Congress, a three-year project leading to the launch of the Comus edition co-edited with Donald Maurice. He began his career as a musicologist after winning the David Dalton Viola Research Competition sponsored by the JAVS, another reminder of the value of sustained connections. Andrew would like to express thanks to Dwight Pounds and Carlos María Solare for their assistance towards this review.

Bogusława Hubisz-Sielska and Stefan Kamasa in duetPhoto credit: Dwight Pounds

Matt Deline, who will be taking over as photographer for IVS/AVSPhoto credit: Dwight Pounds

26

Patricia McCarty is a stylish performerwho uses the beautifully dark tone of herviola to characterise the music to its bestadvantage. She and Eric Larsen achievesome moments of breathtaking beauty...

S T R A D

McCarty captures unerringly the variousdance styles…shines triumphantly…a tour de force.

S T R A D

McCarty sculpts Bach’s forms with the fine, blue-flamed torchof her mind… If I were to compare McCarty’s readings of thecello suites to one recording of the Bach sonatas and partitasfor solo violin, I would point to the refinement and aplomb ofArthur Grumiaux.

O T T A W A C I T I Z E N

Patricia McCarty’s warmly dark viola tone and smoothlyaccurate playing seem just right for this lovely music.

F A N F A R E

I can recommend her new Schubert performance for itsaccuracy of intonation, clarity of attack, dramatic phrasing andgeneral musicianship…splendid on its straightforward terms.

O T T A W A C I T I Z E N

…she plays [Telemann Fantasias] in a historically aware way,with sparing use of vibrato and ideal clarity ofarticulation…the recording is warm and welcoming.

S T R A D

…delightful pieces [Telemann] resounding in the uniquely rich,warm, vibrant viola timbre and register, especially as realizedin McCarty’s full-bodied expressive style…simply great music-making complemented by ideal sound. A terrific disc!

C L A S S I C S T O D A Y

ASHMONT Viola CDs

ASHMONT CDs are available atwww.Amazon.com and

www.AshmontMusic.com

New Release

27

Australia and New Zealand Viola SocietyCinderella: Some More!Musical Collaboration in Australia and New ZealandAndrew Filmer

Lionel Tertis, the pioneer of the viola, declared: “Cinderella No More!”, and his sterling achievements in promoting the instrument certainly proved that the viola did not have to labour in the unrecognized recesses of the music world. Some decades later, perhaps we can engage in a new take to the Cinderella metaphor, in considering this: the fairy-tale had a rather positive ending, what with the help of a fairy godmother, two mice, and a pumpkin.

I would argue that so it is, perhaps, with violists in that remarkable things happen when they come together in collaboration with other performers. Events in Australia and New Zealand certainly celebrate this connection to fellow musicians.

The International Viola Conference, organised by Robert Harris under the auspices of the Australia and New Zealand Viola Society, was held at the historic Sydney Grammar School, 23–25 March 2012, and certainly included this festive spirit. Members of the Sydney Symphony Fellows provided a delightful rendition of Mozart’s Quintet in C Major, celebrated for its viola parts at least since the time of J. Arthur Watson’s evergreen article, “Mozart and the Viola”, published in 1941. Paul Groh showcased a continual relevance of the role of the performer-composer, indicating the potential of violists in particular to expand their own repertoire by taking on the challenge of taking up the composer’s pen. Harris joined up with soprano Wendy Dixon and pianist David Miller, in his continued efforts towards ‘Viola Plus’. Viola Viva: The Next Generation ensemble from Victoria University of Wellington showed the level to which music can be ‘borrowed’ from the violin and cello repertoire, with Nodaira’s magnificent arrangement of Bach’s d-minor Chaconne, and Yuriy Leonovich’s expansion of the Prelude to the fifth cello suite.

Musicology also played a role at the Conference, with research by Professors Claudine Bigelow and Donald Maurice, providing new insights into Bartók’s Viola Duos, including the composer’s original field recordings. Familiar items included massed viola works, and masterclasses by Roger Benedict, Principal Viola of the Sydney Symphony, and acclaimed pedagogue Alex Todicescu.

Shorter presentations, dubbed ‘Viola Bytes’, covered such topics as links between New Zealand pioneering composer Alfred Hill and German violist Michael Balling by Maurice, the Primrose International Viola Archive by Bigelow, a look at the Colorstrings approach presented by David Banney, the AMEB viola syllabus by Robyn Brookfield and the Suzuki Viola Method by Marjorie Hystek.

These connections to chamber music, composition, and research brought a special spark to the event.

In 2013, this collaborative approach was seen with the inaugural Composition Competition of the ANZVS. Enfolded into the schedule of the Auckland Viola Convention in March, winning works were performed at the conclusion of the event. The Convention included Scottish fiddling, a composition workshop on composition entries, and research on musical quotation in Shostakovich’s Viola Sonata by John Roxburgh, as well as a masterclass by Robert Ashworth, Principal Viola of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. There were presentations that linked to those in Sydney, with Groh’s further discussion on composing for the viola with new examples from his own works; and Maurice once again addressed the Bartók duos, this time illustrating the relevance of field recordings in other works of the composer. Massed viola works were once again on the schedule.

In emphasizing the value of the diversity not only evident in the presentations, but in the participants as well, ANZVS President Anna Brooker noted, “They span a wide range of ages, with amateurs, students, and professionals all sharing the same passion for our instrument.”

Events such as these, as well as various other activities Down Under, celebrate not only the unique nature of our instrument, but also the value of our association with other aspects of our musical world. Here we are, of Cinderella’s unrecognized beauty at times, but, nonetheless, revelling in the association with the greater community that comes from being in a rather niche area, leading to what could just be called transformative events.

Submitted in July 2013 on behalf of the Australia and New Zealand Viola Society. Andrew presented research on Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante at the International Viola Conference in Sydney, and presented research on Telemann’s Concerto for Two Violas in Auckland.

Makers & Dealers of Fine Stringed InstrumentsWILLIAM HARRIS LEE AND COMPANY

410 S. MIchigan Ave., Suite 560Chicago, Illinois 60605

800-447-4533 info@whlee.com

H a n d - c ra f t e d i n o u rC h i c a g o Wo r k s h o p

World renowned for their outstanding tonal qualities, violas made in the William Harris Lee shop have become fi xtures in professional orchestras throughout the

world. Today master makers like Vanna So, Bronek Cison, Stanley Kiernoziak, Peter Staszel, Gary Garavaglia continue to produce artist instruments of exquisite beauty.

We are happy to ship violas for trial anywhere in the United States. To discuss your requirements and current availability,

call our Chicago workshop: 1-800-447-4533

T h e w o r l d ' s f i n e s t v i o l a s . . .

A Letter from the 2014 IVS Congress HostJorge Alves

We are very happy to host the 2014 IVS Congress in Oporto, and we invite you to join us on 26–29th November 2014. We are a very dynamic team and we are sure that with your enthusiastic participation it will be a great week and a huge success. The IVC 2014 will give a special emphasis to future generations, with the title “Performing for the Future of Music”. The recent reality of the world financial crisis and the restrictions of the global economy make it of utmost importance to reflect on the role of the violist with thoroughness and care. With the contributions of all of you, the IVC 2014 wishes to share experiences, motivate and inspire the future generations of violists, while continuing to develop even further the art and knowledge of the viola.

We are hard at work compiling a very interesting program filled with concerts, conferences, master classes and workshops. A gala concert by the Oporto Symphony Orchestra Casa da Música and Michail Jurowski, with Nobuko Imai as soloist, is already booked. We will have the opportunity to hear several other viola concertos at concerts by the Beiras Regional Orchestra and the ESMAE College Orchestra. Sunday morning will feature a promenade concerto at the Oporto Coliseu, and in the afternoon we expect, with your help, to surpass our own Guinness World Record for the largest viola ensemble. Although the call for proposals is still open, we can already guarantee fantastic viola

Associação Portuguesa da Viola d’arco players, teachers, researchers, luthiers and composers. For the younger violists, we are preparing a series of master classes and workshops. Concerts and viola spots will be organized all around the city, including concert halls, theatres, art academies, cafés, clubs and other public spaces.

Oporto is a wonderful city to visit and to enjoy. It was recently acclaimed by Lonely Planet as the first destination to visit in 2013: “(…) Oporto has emerged as a vibrant arts capital (…)”. In Oporto you can feel a rich musical tradition. Side by side with an intense activity in classical music, there are good jazz clubs and traditional “tascas” where you can hear fado, the Portuguese national music. Our new Concert Hall, Casa da Música, designed by Rem Koolhaas, has become internationally renowned, and is one of the city’s icons. A rich local gastronomy is available at inexpensive restaurants and bars all over the city. Touristic activities and visits to the famous Port wine cellars are included in the program, and for the more adventurous we are providing a boat trip up the beautiful Douro river to visit the Porto wine vineyards, which are Unesco patrimony.

We are preparing a fine selection of hotels with special rates/discounts. There is also a nice youth hostel, and if you want to stay with a Portuguese family we are organizing a list of local viola lovers who will be very happy to welcome you into their homes.

All of this and more will be available very soon at our new website www.apvda.com

Hope to see you in Oporto next November!

Next year’s Congress Host, Jorge Alves

30

by Carolyn Waters Broe

Louise Lincoln Kerr (1892–1977), American com-poser, violist, and patron of the arts, was born April24, 1892, in Cleveland, Ohio, and died December10, 1977, in Cottonwood, Arizona, at her ranch.Kerr’s mother taught her to play the piano at age sixand violin at age seven; she learned later in life toplay viola. She continued her violin studies inCleveland with Sol Marcosson, concertmaster andsoloist with the early Cleveland SymphonyOrchestra. In 1910 she attended Barnard College inNew york where she studied music compositionwith two prominent Columbia University professors:Cornelius Rubnor and Daniel Gregory Mason.While at Barnard, she took private violin lessons at

the Institute of Musical Art, which would laterbecome part of the Juilliard School of Music. Sheleft New york around 1913 in order to join theCleveland Municipal Orchestra under the directionof Christian Timner, another of her violin teachers.

By 1920 she had returned to New york, where shemet and married Peter Kerr (pronounced “Care”)and started her family. While in New york, she got ajob working for the Aeolian Recording Companyproofing piano rolls. There, Louise Kerr met withnoted pianists and composers who were recordingtheir music, including Sergey Prokofiev, AlfredCortot, and George Gershwin. She was also a friendof the renowned conductor Dimitri Mitropoulosand the violinist Isaac Stern. Later, when Kerrworked in the sound booth studio of Duo ArtsRecords (at Aeolian), she assisted conductors in cor-recting mistakes on early disk recordings of modernpieces. It was her job to sit in the glass booth, followthe score, and tell the conductors when a mistakeoccurred so they could re-record it.

Eventually the Kerrs came west to Arizona for thehealth of one of their daughters. The family lived inPhoenix and later built homes in Cottonwood andScottsdale. It was here that she turned toward theviola, in large part due to the theft of her violin, onDecember 7, 1941, the day that Pearl Harbor wasattacked. Later, she continued to perform on theviola as her main instrument with the Phoenix andFlagstaff Symphonies. Mrs. Kerr owned many valu-able instruments but performed in the PhoenixSymphony on a 1781 viola labeled MicheleDeconet. It is thought that Deconet (1713–1799),who was a German-born traveling violinist, brokeredinstruments for Venetian luthiers in other Italiancities during the latter part of the eighteenth century.The Michele Deconet viola is part of the string col-lection that was donated to Arizona StateUniversity’s Herberger School of Music by three

THE VIOLA MUSIC OFLOUISE LINCOLN KERR

VOLUME 28 NUMBER 225

Louise Lincoln Kerr, c. 1950 (Arizona State University,Department of Archives and Special Collections, CPSPC 183:6)

31

families including Louise Lincoln Kerr. The viola atASU is almost 16 inches (15 and 15/16 inches) or406 mm. It has wide bouts, a spruce top, and amaple back.

In Arizona, Louise Kerr became known as the“Grand Lady of Music.”1 In 1959 she used an inher-itance from her father (an engineer and real estatetycoon) to build her home, studio, and an artists’colony in Scottsdale. Her studio was the original siteof the Phoenix Chamber Music Society performanc-es. Many famous musicians performed there, andshe played chamber music at her studio with IsaacStern, inviting professors and local musicians to joinin. In addition, she helped co-found and/or developThe Phoenix Chamber Music Society, TheScottsdale Center for the Arts, The National Societyof Arts and Letters, Monday Morning Musicals, TheBach and Madrigal Society, young Audiences, TheMusicians Club, and the Phoenix Cello Society(now the Arizona Cello Society).2 She was extremelygenerous with both her time and money.

As a composer, Kerr wrote more than one hundredworks including fifteen symphonic tone poems,twenty works for chamber or string orchestra, a vio-lin concerto, five ballets and incidental music,numerous piano pieces, and about forty pieces ofchamber music. Kerr’s chamber music includes arich selection of string quartet movements; theString Quartet in A Major; piano quartets and quin-tets; a Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano; numerousduos for piano and other instruments; and a fewvocal pieces. According to her son William Kerr, shecomposed mostly at night, no doubt a necessity witheight children to care for (the last two boys wereidentical twins).3

Her symphonic compositions were primarily writtenfor and premiered by the Arizona State UniversitySymphony. Other local groups such as the Mesa andSun City Symphonies also performed her music.The Phoenix Symphony performed her tone poemEnchanted Mesa, written in 1948, as well as othersymphonic works including Arizona Profiles, whichwas commissioned for the ground-breaking dedica-tion ceremonies of the Scottsdale Center for the Arts

in 1968. Most of her chamber music pieces werewritten for friends to play at the many music gather-ings held in her Scottsdale home and studio. Shealso composed during the summers at her ranch inCottonwood, near Flagstaff. She won several awardsin composition during her life and was a member ofthe Phoenix Composers’ Society. Unfortunately,almost none of these amazing pieces have been edit-ed or published.

When Kerr passed away in 1977, she left a greatlegacy to the College of Fine Arts at Arizona StateUniversity (ASU), establishing the Kerr MemorialScholarship Fund at the School of Music. She pre-sented her private music library to the ASU Schoolof Music; most importantly, she also donated herextensive collection of orchestral and chamber musicmanuscripts (labeled MSS-90) to the ASU Archivesand Manuscripts at Hayden Library. In addition, shedonated her Scottsdale home and studio to ASU tobe used as a chamber music venue, now the ASUKerr Cultural Center. She received a gold medal fordistinguished contribution to the arts from theNational Society of Arts and Letters. Shortly beforeher death, Louise Kerr was awarded an honoraryDoctorate from ASU, and she was posthumouslyinducted into the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame onOctober 21, 2004.

Compositional Style

Kerr’s overall compositional style may be character-ized as tonal and inspired by Classical and Romanticgenres and forms. Her music is often enhanced bythe local color of the American Southwest, and shedeveloped a concept of Southwest Impressionism bystudying the works of Impressionist painters wholived in California and in Arizona during the 1940s(she and her eldest daughter, Tammara, were bothpainters). The region was populated by NativeAmericans and Hispanics, and Kerr used elements oftheir music in her own compositions as well as themusic of local cowboys. One can also hear the influ-ence of the many famous pianists that she workedwith in New york in the early 1920s and some jazzinfluence in certain pieces.

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETy26

32

Even though she had the means and connections topublish her music in New york, Louise Kerr was avery modest woman who did not seek fame.Virtually all of her music remains unedited andunpublished. Unfortunately, very few of her worksare dated, and premiere dates and names of compo-sitions were lost after her death. Reel-to-reel record-ings of most of the premieres of her music have alsobeen lost, so it is difficult to get a full picture of howher music was to be performed. The five piano andviola works, edited by Carolyn Waters Broe andMiriam yutzy, are the first of Kerr’s works to be pub-lished,4 and a new edition of the Etude, for violinand viola, has recently been published by theAmerican Viola Society.

Viola Music

Kerr was a connoisseur of chamber music. She per-formed a great deal of chamber music and wrotemusic to share and perform with her friends;evening chamber music readings would go into theearly hours of the morning. Kerr’s chamber piecesare remarkable for their creativity and beauty as wellas their technically challenging passages. Among themost effective are those for viola and piano, the vio-lin and viola duos, and her works for string quartet,piano quartet, and piano quintet.

The Two Violin and Viola Duos

The duos for violin and viola are entitled Etude andOrientale (MSS-90 Box 4/folders 3 and 4). Etude is avery difficult duo that incorporated jazz elements ina string piece long before modern jazz string per-formers such as the Turtle Island String Quartet. Shemay have become interested in jazz from CharlesLewis, who studied with Kerr while living at the artscolony.5 The Orientale is an exceptional work thatmakes great demands of the two musicians. Thescores of both duos have been carefully copied inink; they may actually be in the hand of AndrewShaw, an ASU theory student and violist who copiedworks for Kerr.6

The Etude, for violin and viola, was composed July1969 for Diane Sullivan, who is now a member ofthe Phoenix Symphony (a second copy is datedNovember 1969), and Frank Spinoza and Bill Magers performed the work at ASU in 1975. This perpetual motion piece begins in D major with rapid sixteenth notes in the violin part and pizzicato eighth notes in the viola (ex. 1). Then the viola performs a playful melody. As both a violist and a violinist, Louise Kerr was able tocraft this duo with the maximum brilliance. Thework moves to a section in C major, where therhythms shift constantly in a syncopated jazz style.Kerr’s experience with the numerous pianists at

VOLUME 28 NUMBER 227

Example 1. Louise Lincoln Kerr, Etude, mm. 1–5.

33

Aeolian seems to have had a great influence on thiswork. The perpetual motion of the sixteenth notes iscarried from one instrument to the other. While thiswork has many similarities to the piano characterpieces that would have been popular in New yorkduring the 1910s and 1920s, it is also similar to theMinimalism of Philip Glass and Elliott Carter.

This crossover piece has elements of both jazz andSouthwest hoedowns similar to Copland’s balletsuite from Rodeo. It is also similar to Debussy’sGolliwogg’s Cake-Walk from Children’s Corner, whichin turn was influenced by the American rags andcakewalks of the day. Theviolist and violinist alter-nate guitar-style pizzicatounderneath melodic pas-sages (ex. 2). Sixteenthnotes lead into an A-major section, and theduet finishes in D majorwith harmonics and awhimsical pizzicato pas-sage in both instruments. The highly syncopatedrhythmic style of writingexhibited in Etude can beextremely challenging forstring players. Louise Kerrsaid this about her music:“We all respond to

rhythm. That’s why the young Audiences programsare so successful—the children love to be part of it,to respond to the rhythm, to try conducting.”7 DianeSullivan and Louise Kerr were the first two musiciansto play this piece, while Louise was working on it.According to Sullivan: “There were three versions ofthe Etude, and Louise finally decided on the first ver-sion. She did not think that it sounded as good withrests. She was in a good mood when she wrote it. Itis a very happy piece.”8

The Orientale, for violin and viola, is both brilliantlycomposed and virtuosic. She wrote many of her vio-

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETy28

Example 2. Louise Lincoln Kerr, Etude, mm. 38–43.

Example 3. Louise Lincoln Kerr, Orientale, mm. 15–18.

34

lin pieces for her friend Sidney Tretick, who was thefirst concertmaster of the Phoenix Symphony.Tretick was a concert violinist and studio musicianwhom she met in Los Angeles in the 1940s and laterconvinced to come to Phoenix. Kerr fashioned thiswork in the Russian Impressionist style of AlexanderGlazunov, and it is designed to imitate the balalaikaof Russian folk music. The work includes specialeffects of harmonics, chromatic runs, and the use ofdrone strings. The double-stop measured tremolos inthe viola are particularly difficult while the violinistperforms extremely high cadenza-like runs and dou-ble-stop passages (ex. 3). The manuscript forOrientale seems to be in the same hand as the Etude(which is not Kerr’s own). The appearance of theseprofessional copies could indicate an intent to havethem both published, however, having been in themusic recording business in New york City, she maynot have wanted to go through the extensive processof getting her works published.

Five Character Pieces for Viola and Piano

The five viola and piano works are all short characterpieces without dates (MSS-90, Box 3/folders13–17).9 While these works have been published as acollection entitled Five Character Pieces for Viola andPiano, they were originally composed as separatepieces. Kerr’s viola and piano pieces have colorfuland descriptive titles as follows: Habañera; LasFatigas del Querer; Berceuse; Lament; and Toccata.The expressive viola writing in these works is notextremely difficult and could be mastered by an

advanced student of the viola. The manuscripts forHabañera, Berceuse, and Toccata have been copied inink and show signs that they were performed at onetime, including fingerings and markings for per-formance. The scores to Las Fatigas del Querer andthe Lament are in pencil with many corrections. Allof the manuscripts contain both a score and part,except for Lament, where the viola part is lacking.Kerr wrote many of her violin and piano duos dur-ing the 1940s, so it is likely that she wrote her violaand piano duos around the same time while she wasplaying viola with the Pasadena Symphony and liv-ing in Los Angeles. Betty Lou Cummings, a formerprofessor of piano and organ at Northern ArizonaUniversity, recalls accompanying Kerr on the violaand piano pieces at Kerr’s Los Angeles home in thelate 1940s.10

Habañera and Las Fatigas del Querer may havebeen written for Kerr’s friend Marie Escadero, whowas a professor of Spanish at ASU. Habañera cap-tures the flavor of the traditional Spanish dance andis somewhat similar to the Spanish-influenced piecesof Ravel and Debussy. The work is characterized byshort phrases, two-bar echo effects, triplet figuresinterspersed with duplets, and catchy rhythms. Theviola assumes the role of a flamenco singer withpiano accompaniment rather than guitar (ex. 4).Las Fatigas del Querer is an idiomatic Spanish phrasethat translates as “the sorrows of loving.” In a scoreto one of her violin pieces with the same title, Kerrwrote: “Free treatment of a Spanish folk song,” and“not even tears can relieve the bitterness of the sor-

VOLUME 28 NUMBER 229

Example 4. Louise Lincoln Kerr, Habañera, mm. 1–3.

35

row that comes from loving. Only music can expressit.”11 She may have been referring to the loss of twoof her daughters when they were teenagers duringthe 1940s (one had tuberculosis and the other diedin a tragic accident when a gun went off by mis-take). She also lost her husband, Peter Kerr, in 1939.As in the Habañera, the violist resembles a Spanishsinger, especially in the declamatory ad libitum pas-sage toward the end of the piece (ex. 5). Like manyof the Impressionists, Kerr employed differentmodes; Las Fatigas del Querer seems to be in APhrygian or possibly D harmonic minor. This workis very convincing in using the ability of the viola topull at the listener’s emotional heartstrings and imi-tate the human voice. It should be noted that thetreatment of the folk song in the work of the samename for violin and piano is entirely different fromthat for viola and piano.

The Berceuse for viola and piano is a beautifully craftedcharacter piece of the French Impressionist genre. Thischarming work is similar in style to the Berceuse, op. 16,by Gabriel Fauré. Like many of Kerr’s works, the rhythmin each measure of her Berceuse is slightly different thanthe last. The Berceuse mostly stays in the lower positionsbut occasionally explores the higher range of the viola.

The Lament is a much darker piece than the other violaworks. The score for Lament is still in sketch form, and it ispossible that she was still working on the piece, since shenever made an ink copy of the viola and piano parts. Sheseems to have chosen F minor, a decidedly less vibrant keyfor the viola, to deliberately create a somber quality. Theharmonic texture is moody and brooding like those foundin Brahms’s songs. There is a brief respite from the sorrow ofF minor when the work modulates to a more hopeful C-major section. There is a return to F minor through a longbridge passage, and the piece wanders, evading familiar pas-sages. Thus the listener has an unrequited feeling, and themusical tension is never relieved. Louise Kerr makes excel-lent use of both the darker side of the viola C string as wellas the poignant A string (ex. 6).

The Toccata for viola and piano is a fast fantasia thatkeeps with the through-composed nature of most toccatas.She makes use of the Phrygian mode but keeps to themore vibrant keys of C and D major. The opening passageof the Toccata is technically demanding, with the violistscaling the instrument in rapid sixteenth-note passages.The pianist is also kept very busy with numeroussequenced patterns in the bass. There is a contrastinglyslower lyrical section, and then the rapid sixteenth notesreturn for the climax of the piece.

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETy30

Example 5. Louise Lincoln Kerr, Las Fatigas del Querer, mm. 61–72 (viola part).

Example 6. Louise Lincoln Kerr, Lament, mm. 3–12 (viola part).

36

Conclusion

Louise Kerr left a valuable legacy of chamber music forthe viola and other instruments. Her rich experiences inNew york with jazz pianists and her association with theImpressionist composers and painters influenced Kerr towrite colorful and creative compositions. Her exposureto Native American melodies, Spanish folktunes, andcowboy songs of the Southwest helped her to composein a unique style. Louise Kerr’s ability as both a violistand violinist gave her an excellent perspective on how tocompose for strings. She excelled at composing shortcharacter pieces, infusing them with colorful harmonicpassages and exciting rhythmic motives.

Kerr also left a substantial legacy through her humanitarianefforts and philanthropy, and her former home, the ASUKerr Cultural Center, is now an Arizona and NationalHistorical Preservation site. While she has received awardsand accolades for many of her efforts, her contributions as acomposer are only now receiving renewed interest. As aprolific American Southwest composer of the twentiethcentury, Louise Lincoln Kerr deserves to be more remem-bered; her music is our national treasure.

Notes

1 A. Nannette Taylor, Louise Lincoln Kerr: GrandLady of Music (Phoenix, AZ: Kerr Cultural Center,Arizona State University, n.d.).

2 Ibid.

3 William Kerr, interview with the author, April 22, 2001.

4 Louise Lincoln Kerr, Five Character Pieces for Violaand Piano, ed. Carolyn Broe and Miriam yutzy(Scottsdale, AZ: Classics Unlimited Music, 2002).This edition is available at http://www.fourseasonsor-chestra.org or http://www.classicsunlimitedmusic.com.

5 Charles Lewis, “103rd Birthday Tribute Concertfor Louise Lincoln Kerr,” (speech, Kerr CulturalCenter, ASU, Scottsdale, AZ, April 23, 1995).

6 Andrew Shaw, interview with the author, April 1995.

7 Jim Newton, “Mrs. Kerr, 80, Eyes Future,” ArizonaRepublic, April 29, 1972.

8 Diane Sullivan, interview with the author, 2001.

9 Excepting Berceuse; one of the draft manuscriptscores bears the date November – 1947.

10 Betty Lou Cummings, interview with the author,September 22, 2012.

11 Louise Lincoln Kerr, Las Fatigas del Querer forViolin and Piano (unpublished manuscript,Arizona Collection, ASU Archives MSS-90).

Kerr’s Etude, for violin and viola, is available in a newedition by the American Viola Society at: http://ameri-canviolasociety.org/resources/scores/american-viola-proj-ect/. Her Five Character Pieces for Viola and Piano isavailable from the Four Seasons Orchestra at:http://www.fourseasonsorchestra.org/shop.html. Arecording of Kerr’s viola music has recently been releasedon the CD Arizona Profiles. Copies of the CD are alsoavailable on the Four Seasons Orchestra website.

Dr. Carolyn Waters Broe is the viola instructor atParadise Valley Community College in Phoenix,Arizona. She is also the conductor of the Four SeasonsOrchestra and the violist with the Four Seasons StringQuartet of Scottsdale, Arizona. Broe has performed asthe viola soloist with several orchestras and is recordedon numerous CDs. More information is available athttp://www.fourseasonsorchestra.org.

VOLUME 28 NUMBER 231

This article appeared in the Journal of the American Viola Society and is reprinted here by permission.